


At Long Last

by thudworm



Series: At Long Last [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Based on a True Story, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 17:16:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6203995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thudworm/pseuds/thudworm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the right set of circumstances is what is needed to push two friends down the right path.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Long Last

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is almost entirely based on how my partner and I got together, exactly 6 years ago.

"So, you and Stark?" Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow. Steve gave a half shrug in response, taking care not to shift too much in case he disturbed Tony, who was sleeping quite comfortably curled up on Steve's left side, his head pillowed on Steve's shoulder.

“It’s not something we’ve ever really spoken about, yet at least.” Steve replied. Steve knew exactly what he hoped the outcome of such a conversation would be, but he didn’t want to jeopardize what they had by bringing it up. There were definitely times that it seemed to Steve that Tony might want the same thing, but that could just have been Steve's wishful thinking talking rather than an accurate assessment.

He and Tony had been spending a lot of time together in the last few months, ever since all of the Avengers had moved into the newly renamed Avengers Tower, but their friendship was no guarantee of reciprocated romantic feelings.

All that time spent together was how Steve knew that Tony hadn't been sleeping well for the past couple of weeks. None of the Avengers were strangers to nightmares and insomnia, and the stress of Stark Industries business on top of being an Avenger was contributing to Tony's poor sleep.

Even with Pepper as CEO handling most of the running of the company, there were still responsibilities Tony couldn't avoid, no matter how much he might want to. The newest of these was a meeting he had to attend in London tomorrow. Steve had spent the afternoon listening to Tony's ranting and acting as a sounding board, which hadn't left him any clearer about why Tony's presence was so vital, but had made Tony's opinion of the 'wastes of perfectly good degrees' working in the Research & Development department abundantly clear.

Steve had listened to Tony vent for a while before deciding a change in pace was necessary. As soon as he had taken out his 21st Century list he had Tony's attention, and the conversation immediately shifted from one-sided venting to playful bickering about what movie they should watch.

Die Hard had been the winner of the discussion, and despite Tony's enthusiasm and insistence that the movie was "so great Steve, really, I can't believe no one's made you watch it yet," Tony had fallen asleep less than 10 minutes into the movie.

Bruce, Clint, and Natasha had all found their way to the common area during the movie, and Steve had given all three very pointed looks before they had a chance to say a thing. Tony clearly needed the sleep, and Steve wasn't going to let him be woken just for the sake of some good-natured ribbing from their teammates.

Bruce and Clint left soon after the movie had finished, leaving Steve and Natasha as the only two awake people on the room. During the two or so hours that Tony had been asleep he had gradually shifted closer and closer to Steve. Tony had started out simply resting his head on Steve's shoulder, but was now what could only be described as snuggled up against Steve's side. Until Natasha drew his attention, Steve hadn't even noticed that he had wrapped his left arm around Tony's shoulders, holding him close.

Tony stirred slightly, possibly in response to the conversation about him, but he settled without waking when Steve reached up with his right hand to run his fingers through Tony's hair. Tony nuzzled closer, and Steve couldn't help the fond smile that spread across his face.

He looked back up at Natasha just in time to see the knowing grin she was directing at him and Tony. “Unless I’m reading this all wrong, I think you two definitely need to have a talk about this.”

“I know what I want, but what if he doesn’t want the same thing? I don’t want to make things horrible and awkward between us.” Steve couldn’t stop himself from voicing his fears.

Natasha was still smiling at him as she replied. “You don’t have anything to worry about there. The only way this will go wrong is if one of you run scared before giving it a chance. Trust me, it’s my job to notice these sorts of things." With that, Natasha stood and left, leaving Steve alone with Tony again.

As much he was happy with the current situation, enjoying the feeling of being able to hold Tony so close, Steve knew they couldn't stay as they were. "Tony. Tony. _Tony_." Steve hated having to wake him, but they would both regret it in the morning if Steve let Tony sleep on his shoulder all night.

"Nggghhh." Tony was stubbornly clinging to sleep, protesting Steve's efforts to stand up from the couch.

"Come on. You need to get to bed. Pepper needs you to be at your best in the meeting tomorrow, remember?"

"How could I forget." Tony yawned loudly as he sat up properly. "Don't see why that means my human pillow had to run out from under me though."

"Because my arm was starting to go to sleep, and there's no way you wouldn't have woken up with a sore neck if I let you sleep like that."

"Fine." Tony over-exaggeratedly pouted, before he yawned again and stumbled to his feet.

"Go to bed, Tony. You need to get some sleep before your meeting tomorrow." Steve said fondly. Tony just gave him a half-hearted salute in response and made his way to the elevator.

*

Steve spent the entire next morning and early afternoon steering clear of the shared spaces around the tower, sticking to where he was unlikely to be disturbed. He had gone for an extra long run around the city this morning, and now he found himself in Tony’s workshop, where he was certainly _not_ hiding.

It wasn't that he was looking to _avoid_ the rest of the team, necessarily; he just wanted to evade the awkward questions that would surely be asked, especially when he hadn't yet had the chance to speak to Tony about whatever it was that was building between them.

Steve did trust Natasha’s judgement, but he wasn't as confident as she was about how willing Tony would be to start a relationship with him. Even if she was right about his romantic feelings being reciprocated, that didn't mean that Tony wanted anything to change between them. If they did start a relationship that didn't work out there would be no avoiding the inevitable awkwardness that would make being teammates uncomfortable, especially when they also shared a living place on top of working together.

He was drawn from his thoughts just after 5 o’clock by the beep of his phone. He knew before even looking at the screen that it would be a message from Tony, almost everyone else who had his number could relay a message to him just as easily through JARVIS. His assumption was right, Tony had messaged him asking if he was keeping the bots company.

DUM-E and U had both rolled over inquisitively when they heard Steve’s phone, and Steve decided that a picture was worth a thousand words. The photo he took was slightly skewed and off-centre, but both bots were clearly visible hanging over his shoulders, one on each side of him. Steve sent the image to Tony, and then sent another message straight after. _How did the meeting go?_

 _Ugh. Got it all sorted out eventually, but it was like pulling teeth to get them to settle on anything. Would have much preferred to stay home and spend time with you_. Tony was a much faster typer than Steve, the response from Tony coming through almost immediately.

Steve was about to reply with a message of equal sincerity, before he thought about Natasha’s words last night and instead decided that lighthearted teasing would be a better option in order to keep the conversation from becoming too serious too quickly. _Actually spend time with me, or do you just want to use me as a pillow again?_

 _Captain Sassypants strikes again!_ Steve laughed at Tony's ridiculous nickname for him, before another message from Tony came through immediately after. _As comfortable as you are, I do actually enjoy your company for more than just a convenient resting place_.

_Well I'm glad to hear that. It’s nice to know I can't just be easily replaced with a couple of well placed pillows._

_You have much more to offer than a few cushions. Like bringing me coffee when I’m busy_. Again, Tony’s message made him laugh.

Focussing on the warm feeling in his chest when he thought about Tony was enough to give Steve the courage to change the direction of the conversation to a riskier topic. _Natasha asked me last night if we were together_.

 _What did you say to her?_ Tony’s response gave nothing away, no sign of his feelings either way.

Steve took a deep breath, typed out his reply, and quickly hit send before he had a chance to second guess himself. _I said that it wasn’t anything we’d talked about, yet at least, but that I would like to be. If that was something you also maybe wanted_.

The one word response came through before Steve even had a chance to realise he was still holding the deep breath he had taken. _Yes_.

There was nothing Steve wanted more in that moment than to be able to touch Tony, hold him close and not let go for a long time. _How long will it be until you get back to the Tower?_

_It’s about a 2 hour flight in the suit, so 2 hours 5 minutes. I know, not soon enough._

The next two hours and _fifteen_ minutes were some of the longest of Steve’s life, but it was definitely worth the wait to be able to pull Tony into his arms and kiss him at long last.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://www.thudworm.tumblr.com).
> 
> Please let me know what you think of this! If there's interest, I'm considering writing more of these two as inspired by my own relationship...


End file.
